1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a typing method and a typing device used in a photographic printer and for typing information of characters, numerals and the like for each photo print.
2. Description of the Related Art
In printing of 135-type photographic film and IX240-type photographic film, back printing is carried out. The back printing is to type characters, numerals and the like on a back face of a photo print. In order to carry out the back printing, a photographic printer in which a back printing device is disposed in front of or behind an exposure station is used.
The 135-type photographic film has a width of 35 mm and is provided with perforations formed in both sides thereof at constant pitch. This photographic film is on sale in a state that a film leader is drawn out from a cartridge. With respect to printing of the 135-type photographic film, an order number of the photographic film, a frame number, an exposure correction value and so forth are printed on the back face of the photo print in one line.
The IX240-type photographic film is called new photographic film or advanced photo system film and provided with two perforations formed in one side thereof at constant pitch. This photographic film is on sale in a state that the whole of the photographic film is wound up in the cartridge which is made of plastic. A leader of the photographic film is sent out from the cartridge by rotating a spool. With respect to printing of the IX240-type photographic film, a message, a photographic date, a photographic condition, an order number of the photographic film, a frame number, an exposure correction value, ID-number of photofinishing laboratory, and so forth are printed on the back face of the photo print in two lines.
In the photographic printer which is capable of printing for both of the 135-type and the IX240-type photographic film, two typing units of ink ribbon type are juxtaposed in front of or behind the exposure station. The typing unit is constituted of an ink ribbon cassette and a typing head. The ink ribbon cassette is an endless type and is exchangeable. The typing head is disposed behind the ink ribbon and is wire dot type. For the 135-type photographic film, one-line typing mode is selected so that one line is typed by driving one of the typing units. For the IX240-type photographic film, two-line typing mode is selected so that two lines are typed by driving both of printing units.
Although a percentage of use of the IX240-type photographic film increases, however, a total amount thereof is still small because it is not long since the commencement of sale. Accordingly, the photographic films for which printing is ordered are almost all 135-type. For the 135-type photographic film, the one-line typing mode is selected. In this mode, only one typing unit of the two typing units, which is predetermined, is used. Therefore, with respect to the typing unit used in the one-line typing mode, ink of the ink ribbon thereof is reduced much faster than the other.
In the case of one-line typing, although the typing density becomes low, it is not noticeable. However, in the case of two-line typing, the typing density of the one line becomes light, however, the typing density of the other line is dark so that the difference in the typing density is rather noticeable. Accordingly, there arises a problem in that the quality of typing is lowered.